Winter

 Enjoying the sunshine

Before the cold

Snaps me back

To reality

Tonight 

Winter truly arrives 

In all her 

Glory and Splendor

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British Film Institute Bar

 Too many beers , lots of film talk

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Questions

 Last thing you read?

Favorite Christmas gift?

New Year’s goals?

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Leucism

My best picture of our leucistic blackbird

Several days ago I announced that I had seen a lesser spotted woodpecker in our garden. I was 99% sure of this but my friends, I was wrong. It was not a lesser spotted woodpecker after all, it was in fact a leucistic blackbird. Please accept my sincere apologies for this stupid error. Previously, I had only seen it in a tree and not on the ground.

Until December 30th, I  knew nothing about leucism.  To be honest, I had never heard the word before. Leucism is a rare genetic condition that results in the loss of some pigmentation. It can affect a wide range of creatures but has been witnessed most often with regard to birds.

We all know what albinism is. It is a total absence of pigment. Albino creatures are pink-eyed and usually have poor eyesight. In the wild, they tend not to last for very long. This is down to absence of natural camouflage and their poor eyesight. They are also often rejected by their own species.

You might say that leucism is halfway between albinism and normality.

Shirley and I saw "our" leucistic blackbird pecking away at an apple as blackbirds like to do in the wintertime. It was too far away for me to photograph at first but later it came much closer to our house and I was able to snap it through the glass of our kitchen door. If I had opened the door for a clearer view, I am sure the bird would have scooted off straightaway.

I am not sure which is rarer - a lesser spotted woodpecker or a leucistic blackbird but I may have lost a penny and found a pound on this one.

We haven't seen that most unusual blackbird since we spotted it on December 30th but I hope it comes back. There are fresh apples on the lawn  waiting for it to feast upon.

Regular British blackbird

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London

 It’s just past 2 pm and already I feel I’ve done lots.

My favourite sushi place Tobiko on Garrick Street is closed so I’ve ordered take out from Sishisamba in Covent Garden and am eating it outside my hotel before going to meet my friend Alex

As it happened my decision to come to London was sort of governed by a vague invite to attend an old friend’s celebratory memorial which took place at noon today in a knackered old church hall in South Camden. 

My friend who died back in December was an old medical colleague who got back in touch with me through Facebook three years ago. 

He was quite seriously ill, back then and our correspondence through messenger, had become quite regular, at times profound, and sometimes, oh his part, regretful.

I’m not saying anything more about this , except I was glad I attended. The celebrant, galvanised the small and very eclectic “ congregation” quite wonderfully and minutes after 1pm, I was walking past the British Museum 

Quick shower then out to the South Bank

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